Calm: Interiors to nurture, relax and restore

by Sally Denning

In recent times, many of us have spent more time at home than ever before. Creating a home that instills a sense of calm will cocoon and protect us from the outside world, create a sense of wellbeing and make us feel truly nurtured.

Calm will help you create a restful, restorative interior that draws you in and makes your shoulders drop the moment you walk through the door. Sally Denning first explores the essential foundations of a tranquil, comforting calming and harmonious colors, textiles, patterns, lighting, and decorative elements. She goes on to explore a mix of accessible real-life homes, ranging from city homes to country houses, new builds, apartments, beach houses, and more. The spaces may be different, but they all share one a timeless, soothing, and restful atmosphere that is a pleasure to come home to.

Genres: Nonfiction

176 pages, Hardcover

Published October 12, 2021

Reviews

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Calm, quiet can become soporific, boring. Each home showcased is wonderful and I could probably live in it or at least visit for quite a while. But using the same bland, neutral color scheme over and over tends to dull the ability of those colors to feel homey. A lot of white, greys and neutrals.
Only a few houses with real color, a real wakeup call and day brightener. Only a couple of houses that indicate that the inhabitants can read. Only a few artworks that I could actually like.
The idea that low, deep, squashy sofas are comfortable ignores the people who have mobility problems and can't get out of those pieces of furniture.
A lot of reclaimed and vintage which I like. Several examples of fabric puddled on the floor, tablecloths or curtains, that Somebody, Sometime is going to trip over and pull things down or go sprawling.
Chapters are: Creating a sense of calm; Calming colours; Calming textures; Calming pattern; Calming elements; Calming interiors. The last is the main focus and the largest by far, covering a number of specific homes.
Very minimalist and uncluttered, but looks unlived-in.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every now and then I like to look at pictures of beautiful homes, particularly minimalist with reclaimed furniture, or at least not overly ostentatious or styled, etc. This 2021 book is beautifully photographed and visits a variety of homes scattered around England. Views out of many of the windows, decoration in mostly neutral colors but a couple of colorful rooms to show those colors can also be calm. Of course, everyday clutter is primarily missing from these homes, as, yes, many of them are second, "retreat" homes. This raises both the real-life-test questions as well as the ones about how families have enough wealth to own and furnish a second home. Some of the renovation work and refinishing the furniture is done by the owners. Still --

[Anett Kallestad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I got a few decorating ideas from this book and found some of the rooms beautiful, I couldn’t help but think that so many of the homes and the rooms therein were cold and unlived in. It was as if they didn’t invite you in, to feel safe, to live and laugh. To me feeling calm is equal to feeling warm, safe and peaceful, and in many of the rooms featured I would feel very cold and alienated. I think it would have helped if there had been more photos from each room, so I could understand how all the colours/textures/light sources etc in each space worked together. Lots of open/bare space, grey walls, low ligthing and hard lines have the opposite effect of calm on me, I’m afraid.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I found this book to be pretty unhelpful. While I liked and agreed with a decent portion of the written advice, I found the homes photographed for the first 2/3 of the book so be downright uninviting and unsettling. I think there were maybe 4 pictures I liked. The second half of the book had a bit more to my taste but not much. It hardly looked like real homes with all of those wires and teeny tiny lights and singular sticks for “decoration”. Or, sorry, the “vignettes”.

Overly minimalist and cold oftentimes. Also the book got fairly repetitive. Nothing wrong with minimalism, I will never be one but I think that it can be equally beautiful and interesting! I definitely have friends who style their homes in that route and I have been very inspired!!! It’s just that in these cases, it really wasn’t. So monotone and empty always.

Also, while some advice was helpful a good portion of it was useless if you aren’t a) an architect b) rich (enough to build 2 homes) c) European d) in a historic home or e) all of the above.

Probably would make a nice coffee table book if the style is your taste (nothing “wrong” with it. Just not mine). But I can’t see this book being helpful in general. A shame for it to be portrayed as though calm interiors belong to the few.

[KayDee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of this book is that home should be a sanctuary from the outside worlds and infused with sense of calmness. The author does a good job explaining this with lovely photography and explanations of the room design concepts. From colors to textures, you to start to get a sense of harmonious design. I also liked that this is a British book so you get to look at homes that are different in some ways from those in the States.

[Mary Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

British minimalist, shabby chic, naturalistic highly stylized interiors. I enjoy looking at interiors from other countries, so enjoyed more than if this style was illustrated using North American examples.

[joanne barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely coffee table book, with some good hints